Plumbing-fixture.



I. A. MANN.

PLUMBING FIXTURE.

APPLICATION FILED oms, 191g.

Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

pg @NVENTOR.

WITNESSES.

/ ATTORNEY.

I. A. MANN.

PLUMBING FIXTURE.

APPLICATION FILED 001 .3, 1912.

Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEBT 2'.

UV INVENTOR. BY M d w W ATTORNEY.

IRA A. MANN, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

PLUMBING-FIXTURE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

Application filed October 3, 1912. Serial No. 723,678.

To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that I, IRA A. MANN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of.Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inPlumbing-Fixtures, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to the construction of plumbing fixtures, and moreparticularly to closet constructions, although certain of the featuresof improvement are applicable to other sanitary fixtures involving theuse of a bowl and a water seal. The construction is particularlydesirable in closets having integral traps and flushing rim bowls. Theprimary objects of the invention are; the provision of a plumbingfixture in which the danger of clogging at a point diflicult of accessis eliminated; the provision of an improved structure in which theflushing maybe accomplished under a relatively low pressure and withpressureswhich fluctuate widely; the provision of a construction inwhich the quantity of water required for flushing is reduced to aminimum; and the provision of a construction in' which the depth of thewater seal may be made greater than that now commonly employed, withoutinterfering with the flushing operation even at relatively lowpressures. Certain embodiments of the invention are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a vertical section throughthe center of my improved apparatus; Figs; 2 and 3 are detail plan viewsof two of the fixtures used in connecting the bowl to the outlet pipes;Fig. 4 is a plan view of the member employed for connectin the upperportion'of the bowl shelf to t e piping at. the rear of the partition;Fig. 5 is an elevation of the end of one of the bracket arms em-. ployedin the structure of Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a section on the line VI-VI ofFig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrow; Figs. 7 and 8are'sections similar to that of Fig. 6, but illustrating modifiedarrangements of the jet openin s; Fig. 9 is a partial vertical sectionthrong a modified type of construcflttion; Figs. 10 and 11 are verticalsections through other modified forms of construc- Wion, and Fi 12 is afragmentary section of the yvall' of t e outlet passage, and illustratesf'rlification of the structure illustrated in Referring first to thegeneral arrange-- is the discharge pipe; 11 is either a vent pipe-or acapped member used only as a supporting member for the top shelf of thebowl as hereinafter described; 12 is a T con nection into which thepassage 3 discharges and which connects the pipes 10 and 11; 13 is acollar in two parts which encircles the pipe 11 and is connected to theshelf 14 as hereinafter described; and 15, 16, and 17 are connectingelements for securing the bowl to the T connection 12, such connectionbeing later more particularly described. The

invention is illustrated as applied to a closet with a partition betweenits members, butit will be understood that the invention is applicablenot only to other types of closets, but also to other types of sanitaryfixtures employing a bowl and a water seal.

The

inlet end of the passage 9 leading to the rim cavity lies below thelevel of the water seal, thus preventing the access of, sewer gases tothe rim cavity.

One of the important features of my in-' vention is the making of theinlet end of the passage 3, or in other words, the end whichconnectswith the bowl cavit'y 2 as indicated at the point 18, of less diameterthan the succeeding portions of the'passage.. For instance, in the caseof a bowl in which the main portion of the passage 3 is made of thestandard diameter of three i'nches, the contracted inlet end may inpractice be made as small as two inches. 1 have found that thisarrangement secures two important results. In the first place a moreeffective flow through the passage is secured, with a lower pressure ofthe flushing. water, and in the second place any stoppage or cloggingwhich may occur in the passage is made to occur at thecontracted inletend .18 instead of occurring farther along in the passage, it' beingobvious that any obstruction whichwill pass the portion 18 will passthrough the larger portion of the passage farther along,

without difficulty. The portion 18 of the passage is of course readilyaccessible for cleaning, Without special tools, so'that the closet maybe readily relieved from any obstruction, which is not the case in theordinary type of closet in which the obstruction always occurs at somepoint so remote from the inlet end of the closet that great diflicultyis usually experienced in freeing the closet from its obstruction, theservices of a plumber usually being required for this purpose, andrequiring the removal of the closet from its seat in many cases. Thelength and position of, the contracted portion of the passage may besomewhat varied, the only requirement being that it be located closelyadjacent the outlet from the bowl cavity and readily accessible from theinterior of the bowl.

Another feature of invention resides in the arrangement of the flushingjet with respect to the outlet passage 3. As indicated in Fig. 1, thecontracted portion 18-of the passage is surrounded by a cavity 19communicating with the cavity 7, and this cavity 19 is provided with aplurality of jet .or

spray discharge openings 20arranged at the periphery of the passage andadapted to .project a supply of flushing water in the form of an annularjet along and in contact. with the walls of the enlarged portion of thepassage. As hereinafter described, this flushing arrangement ispreferably employed in connection with additional flushing means forentraining the central portion of the body of watenin the passage and.carrying it to the soil pipe. The primary object of the jets or spraysof water issuing from the peripheral openings 20 is not so much toentrain the body of Water in the passage as it is to eliminate thefriction between such body of water and the interiorsurface of thepassageway, it being true, however, that there is a certain amountofentraining action, and that these ijets or sprays from the openings 20might be employed with advantage even though not placed at the exactperiphery of the passage and if-not directed exactly parallel with thewalls of the passage. In order to entrain,

and force along the central portion ofthe body of water in the passage3, the converging passageways 21 are provided leading from the avity 19,the convergence of such passageways being indicated by "the dotted lines22; Thieje'ts of water from these passages or openings 21 serve toentrain and propel the main body of Water through the passage 3, whilethe water propelled through the openings 20 serves to reduce thefriction incident to the passage of the bodyof water through thepassage. This arrangement has-been found to permit of the use of. arelatively very low pressure of flushing water, the bowl beingefiectively flushed when such low pressure is used, and the noiseincident to the operationof the apparatus being correspondingly reduced.lit will be noted that the contraction of the inlet end of the passage 3serves to permit a convenient and effective arrangement of the flushingopenings 20 and 21, as the thickness of wall incident to the contractionof the passage is utilized to carry the supply cavity 19 and theopenings 20 and 21.

The vertical weight of the bowl is carried by the connecting nipple 15which is screw threaded into the T member 12 at its outer end, and isfitted into the vitreous material at its other end, the soft packing 23serving to secure a tight joint between the material of the bowl and thenipple 15. A packing 15 is provided around the outer end of the nipple.In order to tighten the metallic packingv23 the collar 17 shown in Fig.3 is employed, such collar bearing against the packing 23 and beingpulled tightly into position to compress such packmg by means of bolts24: which extend through the wings 25 of the collar and through theshelf of the bowl, permitting of the tightening of the packing 23without re moving the bowl from the supporting partition. The bowl isheld against bearing too hard against the supporting. partition, bymeans of the other collar 16 shown in Fig. 2, such collar being screwedonto the nipple 15 and having the projecting lugs 26 which engage therear face of the bowl. The thrust of the bowl is therefore taken by thepiping at the rear of the partition instead of by the partition whichmay be relatively light and frail.

The connection whereby the strain of supporting the shelf ,14: from thepiping 11 is taken, is illustrated in. plan view in Fig. 4. From thisView it will be seen that the bracket 27 carrying the inner half of thecollar 13 is provided with a pair of slotted arms 28 (Fig. 5), whichslotted arms rea ceive the threaded members 29 which are flattened onthe sides as indicated at 30, to prevent the rotation of the members inthe slotscarried by the arms 28. The members 30lare held locked inposition by means of thejnuts 31 and 32 on opposite sides of the arms28. By this arrangement the position of the front ends 33 of the members29 may be readily adjusted and locked in position.

The shelf is secured to the ends 33 of the members 29 by means of thepair of bolts 34. lit will be seen that with the heads'3 3 properlypositioned flush with the outer face of the partition 4: the partitioncannot be injured no matter how tightly the bolts 34 are screwed intoposition, the heads 33 taking the thrust of the shelf 14:.

Fig. 7 indicates a modification of tiio'fiet open ngarran v ement$hQWI1lH= igQQ 1 and 6, such"modi cation consisting in making t messesthe inner set of. openings-21 circular in cross section, instead ofrectangular as in'th case of the openings 21 in the constnuction ofFigs. 1- and 6. The outer or peripheral openings 20 are made as in theconstruction of Figs. 1 and. 6.

Fig. 8 illustrates another modification of the jet opening construction,such modification consisting in using the central circular openings 21the same as in the construction of Fig. 7 but in providing a continuousslot 20 to take the place of the series of openings 20 in theconstructions of Figs. 1, 6, and 7.

Fig. 9 also illustrates a construction'constituting a modification ofthe structure of Fig. 1 in so far as the flushing means is concerned.This structure instead of employ arrangement for supplying flushingwater to the ring cavity 19 and to the rimcavity 8. In this constructionwater is 'suppliedto a cavity 37 and thence via a passageway 38 at theside of the bowl to the cavity 19 from which a flushing of the passage 3is secured by means of openings 20 and 21 as in the construction of Fig.l. \Vater is conducted from the ring cavity 19 to the rim cavity 8 bymeans of a passageway on the slde of the bowl opposite to the passageway38, such passageway being indicated by the dot and dash lines-39. Itwill be noted that this construction illustrates the application of theinvention to a fixture with an integral pedestal. restingon the floor,the outlet of the bowl leading to a floor connection instead of to awall connection, without a partition between.

. sage 3 is secured by means of a central jet opening 41 for engagingthe central portion of thebody of liquid in the passage 3 and (bythe-series of inclined passages 42 for decreasing the friction of thebody of water at the sides of -the passage, the openings 42 beingpreferably arranged in the staggered form illustrated. v v

Fig. 12 illustrates a modified form of the construction illustrated inFig. 11, the wall discharge passage.

43 of the passage being in this case provided with a series of openings44 for the flushing water, such openings being so arranged as to directthe flushing water substantially parallel with the surface of the wall.Various other modifications might be made without departing from thespirit of the invention which is directed broadly to the contraction ofthe inlet end of the outlet passage, and to the provision of the meansat or adjacent the periphery of the outlet passageway for securing asupply of the flushing liquid along the walls of the passage way, andthus reducing the friction incident to the passage of the body of liquidthrough the pas sageway.

The general method of operation of all the types of apparatus asheretofore described is substantially the same, the contents of the bowlbeing withdrawn by reason of the drag imposed through. the jets forcedalong the upwardly inclined passageway 3,rather than by siphonicactionas in'the case of the ordinary type of closet. In the operation of theconstruction as illustrated in Fig. 1, the

flushing water supplied vthrough the pipe 6 first passes through theopenings 20 and 21, thus securing a substantially instantaneous andvigorous movement upward of the body of the water in the passage 3,which movement as hereto fore explained, is facilitated by the removalof friction at the surface ofthe passage, which permits the main drivingor entraining force from the openings 21 to carry the body of waterupward through the passage. This movement of the water through thepassage 3- of course produces a vigorous suction action at the reducedend 18 of the passage, thus securing an effective cleansing'iof thebowl. Substantially simultaneous with this action a portion of the Wateris directed to the flushing rim which extends around the upper' portionof the bowl, the downflowing water from this rim.

giving the interior of the bowl a. thorough scouring as the main body ofwaterin the bowl flows out through the outlet passage.

Havingvthus described my invention and illustrated its use, What I'claimas new and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is the following.

1. In combination in aplumbing fixture,

a bowl, an inclined discharge passage, inlet jet means opening into thedischarge passage and encircling such passage and directed insubstantial parallelism with the walls of the discharge passage at theperiphery thereof, and other jet means opening into the dischargepassage and directed obliquely with respect to the walls of the 2. Incombination in a plumbing fixture,

a bowl, an inclined discharge passage, an

rected in substantial parallelism with the walls of the dischargepassage at the periphery thereof, and other jet means for supplyingwater longitudinally of the discharge passage but inside of the firstmentioned jet means and spaced away from the periphery of the passage.

3. In combination in a plumbing fixture, a bowl, ardischarge passagehaving areducecl inlet portion leading downward from the bowl and theninclined upwardly and a main portion of larger diameter than the inletportion and inclined upwardly, the said portions merging into eachother, an annular supply passage in the wall of the reduced inletportion of the passage and extending around said portion, and jet inletmeans leading through the wall of the discharge passage at the pointwhere the two portions of the passage merge, the jet inlet meansextending around the discharge passage and being directed in substantialparallelism with the walls of the said main portion of the dischargepassage.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence ofthe two subscribed witnesses.

IRA A. NN.

Witnesses:

LETITIA A. MYERS, ARCHWORTH MARTIN.

